Toxics

An op-ed from Joshua Buck, Alberta climate program manager at Environmental Defence, on the $260-billion unfunded environmental liability in the oil and gas sector in Alberta:

Albertans have had a long-standing and mutually beneficial bargain with the oil and gas industry. Basically, the deal was, the companies can take Albertans’ resources, practically for free, but in exchange, they’ll create high-paying jobs for Albertans. They’ll create the conditions for a strong economy, low taxes, and a high quality of life.

But it looks like we have been duped. Because there was another, hidden part of the deal: massive clean-up costs that the companies aren’t able to pay. Costs that will likely be left to Albertans to pay, long into the future.

Read the full op-ed in the Edmonton Journal Read More

CALGARY – Environmental groups say the Government of Canada is failing to meet its legal responsibilities by exempting tailings pond chemicals from a recent screening assessment.

In a comment letter sent to Health Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada on behalf of Environmental Defence and Keepers of the Athabasca on Oct. 17, Ecojustice lawyers called on the government to reconsider naphthenic acids from oil sands process-affected water in assessing whether these chemicals should be regulated under law. Read More

EDMONTON — Jodi McNeill, technical and policy analyst at the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to the Alberta Energy Regulator’s (AER) latest tailings management plan approval:

“This is the fifth approved tailings management plan that doesn’t comply with the AER’s Directive 085. Syncrude’s plan relies on composite tailings (CT) and water capping to treat its tailings. The AER questions whether CT deposits can support final closure landscapes, and water capping is an unproven technology that is not authorized by the regulator. Read More